Inspirational trip to Boyne valley Ireland

Tomorrow exactly one year ago - May 11th 2022 - we finally visited Boyne Valley, two years after our original booking in 2020. It probably needs no explanation why the trip was cancelled. We were actually the first tourists to visit Ireland after the Covid-19 lockdowns. The reason we booked the trip in 2020 was to visit the ancient monuments that are scattered in the valley and get inspired to write a new book. Heavily disappointed that we couldn't go in 2020, we were rather suprised when a Dutch publisher asked us  just some months later to write a book about my watercolor technique. So the trip was cancelled but a book was published in 2021 (named "watercolor in simpele stappen" in Dutch or "watercolor in simple steps" in English).



There was only one thing: I booked a private tour with Anthony Murphy and I was still very exited to go. Besides that we wanted to update our Zen drawing books with new chapters and drawings. So as soon as possible we went for an inspirational trip and celebrate my birthday on May 12th in Ireland.

You may like to know that I visited other parts of Ireland years ago. One of my best discoveries then was the banoffee pie! This pie, nowadays seen more often on Dutch menu's too, was something new to me and incredibly delicious. I asked my foodie-blog-friend Anja to help me out with a recipe. She wrote a lovely blod post (sorry the recipe is only in Dutch but hurray for google translate) and since then I make my own Banoffee pie every year on my birthday! I had no doubt that this year the tradition would continue. It was just two days later that I found a piece at the Newgrange visitor centre.

We booked a very lovely Airbnb in Johnstown, Navan that I can highly recommend to garden and nature lovers like me. It was a wonderful surprise arriving at their property with the large old trees. It was so much prettier than I imagined. In my trip video (below) you can get an impression of the place.

We had our trip partially planned due to the private tour we booked with Anthony Murphy to Fourknocks and Dowth and also because visiting the Newgrange monuments requires booking your tickets in advance. The other days were still open for us to drive around the valley. Thanks to Airbnb owner Tom we visited the Loughcrew cairns, which was a wonderful experience. I will not write about all ancient sites in this post because Anthony's webite called 'Mythical Ireland' is so complete, interesting and full of beautiful photo's that there is just no point for me to write any information about the sites, since he does it much better. As a preparation for our trip I used Anthony's website and I kept using it as a reference during and after my trip. I also kept a diary during and after my trip to write down everything that struck me, notes for a book and any information that I felt I had to remember. This diary became a reference point for all the things that have happened to me since the trip to Ireland. It became a personal mystical journey that brought me so many new things. It was like every page was a piece of a puzzle and I had no idea what the puzzle was going to look like. Before I dive into this more deeply, I'll invite you to take a look at this video of the trip and see for yourself why Ireland is such a magical place.

In the Boyne valley there are many ancient sites that have round mounts, built with enormous stones that all look very similar. Some are covered with grass, some are open and have no roof. In those open mounts you can see that the shape looks a bit like the base of a shiva lingham -as you would find in India- with a small entrance leading to a circular enclosure. The enormous stones are placed in circles and most of them are decorated with beautiful carvings. Some sites have been heavily restored and look like they have been built yesterday (Newgrange) or by a group of hobbits from the movey 'Lord of the Rings'  (Knowth). Other look like a 'beautiful mess' like the Loughcrew cairns, which I find even more interesting.

Fourknocks stole my hearth as it was almost hidden in the fields. Anthony arranged a key so we could enter the inside of the monument all by ourselves. The contrast between the arranged tour at the renovated Newgrange monument, with high entrance fees, tight visiting schedules and the modern high tech information centre, and this hidden jewel called Fourknocks in a farmers field couldn't be bigger. Fourknocks also has beautifully preserved carvings and it's of no less quality. Although I really want the unguarded Fourknock to be protected from any harm by visitors, I hope that sites like this will stay as charming and accessible for future generations to come. In the fields around Fournocks are more mounts to be discovered, which makes it such a magical place that speaks to your imagination.

We had a lovely tour with Anthony and discussed so many things that we almost forgot what time it was. The sun began to shine, we spoke about the history, about Sidhe energy (which I imagine looks like the photo that I took from the blue sky above the monument), synchronicity and how, out of the blue, the radio in our rental car began to play the song 'Newgrange' by Clannad while we were driving to the monument.

On the first day of the trip, May 12th my birthday, we visited Tara Hill and the shop at the entrance of the site. I fell in love with a tri-spiral shirt and shawl that Willem bought for me as a present. Unaware of the symbolic meaning, I wore the clothes during our private tour. Anthony noticed the spirals and showed his necklace of the same kind of spiral. He also told me that the symbol on my shirt was a copy of the carving on the entrance stone of the Newgrange monument. I had no clue, but I wrote  it down in my notebook. Then all of a sudden I realized why the spirals appealed to me that much: spirals are one of the main exercises in my Zen drawing book! I draw spirals all the time when I want to reach meditative state or 'channel' my intuitive knowing. How could I be so blind that I didn't see it before?

From that moment on I turned my attention to the carved drawings that were everywhere on these ancient monuments. Perhaps some of the oldest 'Zen drawings'  of the world where just in front of me. Unlike the smooth and easy drawings I create in pencil, these Neolithic artists must have had so much knowledge, training and patience to carve all these symbols and patterns by hand in those hard stones. What are they telling us about their understanding of the stars, mathematics and life in general?

Funnily enough when Zen drawing, it's much harder to draw symbols 'blind' than for example a complex shape. That is also the reason why I found it so difficult to draw the symbols the Zen way. Once at home I really needed the help of a photograph to draw and paint the entrance stone of the Newgrange monument. But I really wanted to draw it myself, as the tri-spiral of my shirt is also on the stone. I have a video below for you if you want to see my hands at work.

Zen drawing is a perfect way to connect to your surroundings. That is why I always try to draw some sketches when I am at  the places I love. During the trip to the Newgrange monument this really was a challenge. I wanted to see as much as possible of the sites and maybe even make some drawings, but that was almost impossible because we had a very tight schedule, a guide and other group members with their own interests. Although I was able to do some quick drawings in Knowth, it was impossible to make some drawings during the tour at the Newgrange monument. So after the guided tour we took our own car and drove back to the entrance to have some time on our own. Because the monument is hidden behind a tall hedge, I had to climb on a wall to have a peek over that hedge. In this somewhat unnatural position I was able to the draw the monument, but afterwards I noticed that my drawing showed the monument much shorter and compact then the actual monument is. Below are the sketches I made of the monuments.

Once back home I used the sketches to create watercolor paintings with the help of photos I took. I shot videos of the creation of some of those paintings like the one above, that are on my Youtube channel. If you want to subscribe and see more inspiring videos, that would be great ofcourse! 

Some of the watercolors I painted you can find in my shop on Etsy:

You may ask, why did it took me a year to write this blog post? The main reason is that during this past year so many unexpected things happened to me that are definitely related to my trip to Ireland. For instance, I got to learn a lot about sacred geometry through films and documentaries and I also got interested in crystals and minerals! So much that I have started to collect them in all shapes and sizes! In a way I realize this is related to the energy I felt the stones radiated in Ireland. The quartz wall of the Newgrange for example, is something truly amazing. Another lovely new adventure that crossed my path is plant music. More then 10 years ago I heard of this phenomenon and I was intrigued. However it was via the help of my Banoffee-pie-food-blogging friend that I discovered a device that actually records the 'music' of the plants (find an example in this video). The plant music and crystals make me feel more relaxed and grounded when I paint or meditate. They are truely an enrichment to my life.

So, in remembrance of our trip to Ireland and all those related discoveries, this Friday I will celebrate my birthday with a delicious banoffee pie...